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Just like real blood cells, the imitations could squeeze through spaces much smaller than their own diameter and absorb and release substances to order, including oxygen.
They could be used to disperse drugs, or the contrast agents used in medical imaging, throughout the body with fewer side effects than direct injection.
The fake cells could also be given to people who have lost blood instead of a blood transfusion.
Real red blood cells owe their astonishing agility to their "biconcave" or tyre-like shape, and to get the same kind of synthetic particles, Samir Mitragotri and his team got their inspiration from the way real red blood cells acquire their final shape in the body.
They start out as spherical cells, which then collapse into mature red blood cells following exposure to various substances.
Similarly, researchers found that if they added small balls made of a polymer called PLGA to a particular solvent, the spheres would collapse into a biconcave shape.
The researchers coated these 7-micrometre across, tyre-shaped particles, in a layer of protein.
When they dissolved away the polymer core, a soft biodegradable protein shell was left behind with the same mechanical properties as red blood cells.
"The soft protein shell makes them squishy and elastic. They can squeeze through capillaries smaller than their own diameter, just like real blood cells," New Scientist quoted Mitragotri as saying.
The fake cells also seem to share red blood cells' ability to transport substances.
One of the proteins Mitragotri added to the surface of the imitation blood cells was haemoglobin, the molecule that binds to oxygen in the lungs, later releasing it elsewhere in the body.
In test tube experiments, the researchers found that their haemoglobin-coated particles picked up oxygen when there was a lot around and released it later when the concentration was lower.
If the squishy particles do the same thing when injected in animals, they could be given to people instead of a blood transfusion.
Mitragotri has claimed that the particles could provide a way to get drugs into the body at a more constant concentration, or substances such as iron oxide nanoparticles, which increase contrast in magnetic resonance imaging. |
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 True Blood’s makeup department has some strange tasks to do, like creating bloody tears for vampires. Lead makeup artist Brigette Ellis, who used to work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and even won an Emmy for it, knows how to make a supernatural story come to life through makeup. In an interview with Beauty Blogging Junkie, she lists some of her favorite products for the actors of True Blood and what challenges the show presents.
Brigette loves being a makeup artist because she gets to make people look gorgeous and then mess it all up. Her favorite thing about her job on True Blood is reading the scripts in advance, and working for executive producer Alan Ball. The job does have some more difficult aspects though:
“Staying true-to-universe and making executive decisions about a character’s makeup. For example, though Lafayette typically applies an entire face of drag queen makeup, I wanted his look for his dash to save Tara with Sookie to be realistic. So I made sure to give him very minimal makeup that day to work in some of the backstory–that he didn’t have time to touch up his makeup.”
Brigette has a unique makeup style for each character. Queen Sophie-Anne has a very “period-centric beauty” to her, which Brigette conveyed by giving Evan Rachel Wood perfect red lips. Maryann’s eyes always looked dark and exotic, and the makeup they used was tarte Eye Couture Day-to-Night Eyeshadow Palette. For Jessica, Brigette uses tinted moisturizer and lots of Lip Venom. She takes a different approach to the human characters:
“We keep the humans very bronzed and sweaty (we spray them with water) to serve as a contrast to the vampires who are always cool and collected.”
 As for the bloody tears, Brigette says it takes both practical and visual effects. Sometimes she places a red tear in the actor’s eyes, and other times, when more crying is required, the actor cries normally and then they use a computer to graphically color the tears red. She offers up a few specific examples of these techniques:
“When Jessica finds out that she will cry blood tears for the rest of her life–or her existence, rather–she cries a single teardrop. That one, I went in and applied. When Eric was crying about the loss of Godric was also achieved practically. I put the first blood tear into his eyes using a theatrical makeup brand’s product called My Blood. In the scene where Eric is completely devastated and Sookie finds him literally all cried out, we used three layers of blood: a tattoo-like ink, our fresh blood (again, My Blood), and dried blood as well. I’m aware that my job sounds so weird when I explain it like this!”
Those bloody tears on Bill, Eric, and Jessica have been very moving in some of the emotional scenes. It’s so interesting to hear what goes into the makeup on True Blood, which I confess is not one of the elements of the show I’ve ever considered much. But it is definitely an important part!
SOURCE: beautybloggingjunkie.com
(Photo credit: HBO Inc.) |
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Last Updated on Sunday, 18 October 2009 07:56 |
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We are completely re-constructing the site, come back in a week or more.... UPDATE: as you can see it didn't take that long to complete... We are now looking for content for the site more so weekly content. Please email me anything you wish to put up on the site be it a story or link or whatever |
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Last Updated on Saturday, 08 August 2009 00:54 |
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March 10, 2009—Among the many medieval plague victims recently unearthed near Venice, Italy, one reportedly had never-before-seen evidence of an unusual affliction: being "undead."
The partial body and skull of the woman showed her jaw forced open by a brick —an exorcism technique used on suspected vampires.
It's the first time that archaeological remains have been interpreted as belonging to a suspected vampire, team leader Matteo Borrini, a forensic archaeologist at the University of Florence, told National Geographic News.
Borrini has been digging up mass graves on the island of Lazzaretto Nuovo, where the "vampire" was found, since 2006.
"I was lucky. I [didn't] expect to find a vampire during my excavations," he said.
Belief in vampires was rampant in the Middle Ages, mostly because the process of decomposition was not well understood.
For instance, as the human stomach decays, it releases a dark "purge fluid." This bloodlike liquid can flow freely from a corpse's nose and mouth, so it was apparently sometimes confused with traces of vampire victims' blood.
The fluid sometimes moistened the burial shroud near the corpse's mouth enough that it sagged into the jaw, creating tears in the cloth.
Since tombs were often reopened during plagues so other victims could be added, Italian gravediggers saw these decomposing bodies with partially "eaten" shrouds, Borrini said.
Vampires were thought by some to be causes of plagues, so the superstition took root that shroud-chewing was the "magical way" that vampires spread pestilence, he said. Inserting objects—such as bricks and stones—into the mouths of alleged vampires was thought to halt the disease.
—Christine Dell'Amore |
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Last Updated on Saturday, 08 August 2009 09:26 |
IT'S true love for True Blood stars Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer - as the pair has got engaged in real life.
The couple, who play lovers in the sexy vampire series, have confirmed they are going to get hitched.
They have been dating since February this year.
Anna, 27, has said in the past that she prefers doing nude scenes with Stephen, 39, than an actor she doesn't know.
She explained: ""Obviously, if you're already with that person then you're not having to sort of get over the 'Wow, I'm naked with someone that I don't even know the middle name of!'"
She will become step-mum to Stephen's two children from a previous marriage when they tie the knot.
On another note... I can not wait till he has to sleep with the others in the show...
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Last Updated on Saturday, 08 August 2009 08:53 |
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